From the eyes of a newbie...What's good or bad? Part 2

Questioning the old methods, the traditional ways of learning from the old school guys and coming up with different ways to enhance our creativity other than the conventional ones is always beneficial towards learning. This has been a topic I've been discussing lately, where people from different backgrounds come to the same goal at the end: animating. Bakshi talks about 2d vs 3d and mentions a very good analogy between animation and music:

"I always thought the difference between my films and the Disney ones was the difference between rock n' roll and a symphony. I love them both if the music is right."

This whole discussion adds up to my previous post, "what's good or bad". It's strange how people who come from schools get so obsessed with the medium and the workflow they adopt, and discuss a lot about it being "right" or "wrong". People like Caroline Leaf, Piotr Dumala, and Yuri Norstein have proved such constraints do not exist at all, and that as creatives we should embrace any form of expression. These personalities work in their own way because they feel comfortable creating like that, not because they were taught to do it in such way explicitly.

I think that when we start to patronize, we close doors. Both commercial and indie works can be as good. I love to hear from both sides as long as the product satisfies me. I do understand though, that big enterprises tend to spoil creative possibilities for the sake of marketing. After all, when you talk about business, audience demand is what counts... however, as many other great animators, I would love to just be free and create what I please, and enjoy it to the greatest extent. What shall the balance be? Process, or product?

There is also the aspect of "learning". This interesting read from Krickfalusi's blog states how learning to draw can be approached in a different way other than life drawing. Similarly, Keith posted the "Stick Figure Fundamentals" article where he stated that drawing is not restricted to be only done with a pencil, but you can "draw" within the medium you work on (in this particular case, 3d software), encouraging those who don't feel confident with traditional medium. It surely defies the conventions, which creates some hardcore debate between experts who have been doing it "the normal way" for years. Isn't this kinda confusing for newbies? As a beginner you will always be asking what's the best way to learn, what's the best workflow, how do you approach certain things the best way, etc...

I guess what I want to say is that I don't like to be snobby about these things...I find interesting to read opinions of people about certain mediums, what do they find lacking, what do they feel about it, but I certainly find it confusing when people talk about "succeeding in the animation industry" and, in conclusion, "what's good or bad"...